Legal framework of professional mobility in the EU

Abstract

The internal market of the European Union creates employment opportunities, but the job search process remains complex due to different rules and requirements related to the high requirements of local legislation and market characteristics. The research aims to provide a legal overview of Directive 2005/36/EC and the latest amendments to the amended Directive 2013/55/EU, which focus on extending the rights of employees and self-employed persons to practice their profession in different Member States of the European Union. The main methods used in the research are analysis and historical. The authors provided two sides of the view of the country’s internal labour market: from the perspective of the “European Union’s fully free market for professionals”, offering enhanced career opportunities and professional development, and from the perspective of migrants and the obstacles they face. The differences between regulated and unregulated professions, highlighting the ease of recognition of the latter were described. The study also discusses the applicability of the Directive to family members from outside the European Union and the introduction of the European Occupational Card in Directive 2013/55. The three systems for the recognition of qualifications were discussed in detail, highlighting their importance and recent developments in case law. Attention has also been paid to barriers to labour mobility, instruments for the protection of EU citizens, and the challenges posed by national legislation in different professions. The paper provides an assessment of the internal features of the functioning of the internal labour market in the European Union and a better understanding of the peculiarities of the functioning of the economy of the association.